


Flight of the Imagination

by kireteiru



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: But I’m Going To, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Don’t Know If Anyone Has Done This Yet, Inspired By Tumblr, One Shot, The Only Star Wars Fic I Will Ever Write, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26827795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kireteiru/pseuds/kireteiru
Summary: One-shot. One night on Dagobah, Yoda dreams the beginning of what might have been.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Yoda
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Flight of the Imagination

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [This Tumblr Post](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/696166) by Scrivnomancer. 



> Soundtrack for this fic: Between Oceans (feat. Juliet Lyons) by Nick Murray.

“You are on this council… but we do not grant you the rank of Master.”

“What?”

There was a long moment of silence in the Council Chamber before Anakin spoke again. “No, I mean, what did you say, Master Windu? My hearing has been off ever since Master Kenobi and I rescued the Chancellor.” As if to drive the point home, he briefly rubbed one of his ears like he was trying to clear it up.

“He’s right,” said Obi-Wan a few seats over from Windu, “As it turns out, crashing a capital ship without protecting your ears is quite damaging. We would have gone to the medics sooner, but they were swamped with people wounded far more grievously than the two of us. We have an appointment scheduled with a specialist for a few days from now.”

“Oh, my mistake. I assumed it was just a poor reaction to the Council’s decision,” Mace said with a nod, and pitched his voice a little louder and clearer to compensate, “I said that you are on the Council but are not yet a Master. However, now that I am reminded of it, I believe that the trials you had to go through to rescue the Republic’s most important head-of-state are an admirable substitute for the Jedi Temple’s own Trials. Congratulations, Master Skywalker, and welcome to the Jedi Council.”

The new Jedi Master bowed respectfully, a slight smile pulling up on his lips. “I am honored to be counted among such esteemed Force-users. Thank you for being open to my talents, Master Windu, in spite of my faults.”

Mace returned the gesture with a smile and nod of his own. “Please, have a seat, Master Skywalker. While we’re on the topic, I suggest we wait until Master Kenobi has been treated before pursuing General Grievous. A few of the other Masters and I have been researching and meditating on the matter, and we feel there are only a handful of planets that are viable candidates for his base.”

“A wise policy,” Obi-Wan said, nearly beaming at the sight of Anakin taking a seat in a thirteenth chair almost directly opposite his former teacher, “And if he’s hiding on the Outer Rim, we may wish to wait even longer. While there will be battles and losses in the meantime, it would be wiser to work together with an independent system, rather than invade - or give the appearance of invading - and so betray everything the Republic stands for.”

“I concur,” Master Ki-Adi-Mundi added, giving a smile of his own at the sight of Anakin settling happily into his chair, “Not only would such a decision help transition the Republic back to a peacetime mindset, but it would free up ships to respond to other threats that might come after Grievous’s death - or even before. Parting shots from an enemy who knows he’s beaten but still wants to do as much damage as he can before the end. What say you, Master Yoda?”

Yoda was silent long enough that Obi-Wan prompted him with a gentle, “...Master Yoda?”

“...wrong, this all is,” he said finally.

Anakin leaned forward to give the other his full attention. “I’m sorry, Master Yoda, I don’t understand what you mean.”

“How it happened, this is not. Denied mastery you were,” he said, pointing a withered finger in Anakin’s direction, before gesturing to the Council at large with a sweep of an arm, “Take caution we did not. Meditate and reflect, we did not. Pursue peace and cooperation, we did not.” His shoulders - indeed, his whole body - sagged with grief, and his eyes stung with a faint touch of tears even as he lowered his head. “Real this cannot be. Only a dream.”

“Of course this isn’t real, old friend.”

Yoda looked up.

The Obi-Wan on the other side of Ki-Adi-Mundi was no longer the young man he had been so many years ago. Now he looked to be much older - the proper age, perhaps - with his once-golden hair now mostly gray with an edging of white starting to show. His face was lined and deeply tanned, and while his robes were the same, they looked much older and more worn, frayed at the edges, with his overrobe considerably faded. He, too, looked near to shedding tears, his eyes glassy in the light coming through the windows of the Temple long fallen. Still, he continued, even as his voice wavered, “But who is to say you cannot enjoy the euphoria of what could have been, even if only for a moment?”

Yoda lowered his head again, grief squeezing his chest tight…

...and woke in his own bed on Dagobah, the humid air of the swamp heavier than the blanket over his body. He pushed the blanket off and rose with a sigh, every joint in his body creaking in protest, and approached the fire burning in the hearth, tossing another log on and rubbing his hands to warm them faster in the chill pre-dawn air.

He knew without a doubt that Obi-Wan had just woken as well, far away from Dagobah, and that both of them were thinking the same thing. If things had been different - if they had spoken in times where they had been silent, if they had let silence speak in place of whatever paltry words they had offered, if they had acted instead of waited and waited instead of acted… if things had been different, how might the world have been changed? Might they all have been saved, instead of having the whole world come crashing down around them?

(Yoda was aware of Obi-Wan. He was not aware that lightyears away from either of them, a Sith apprentice rose from his own bed, such as it was. He donned his suit and breathing apparatus and left the oxygen chamber to stand before a viewport overlooking a field of stars. Only then did he wonder as they did, and let his own tears fall.)


End file.
